Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo have given a final lunge to the remains of judicial independence in Nicaragua: the presidential couple has stripped the judges of their authority and has subordinated them to the National Police – directed by the Consuegro of the co -chants, the General Commissioner Francisco Díaz – in relation to the seizure and confiscations of property and properties.
A police circular dated early May, but disclosed this week, establishes that any related court order “with embarkation, property or evictions due to debts, must be previously approved by the Police Headquarters” which, in short, obeys the dictation of Ortega and Murillo to the letter. In that sense, the embargoes and property confiscations are one of the main repressive daggers of the Sandinista regime against every citizen considered an opponent.
“This provision not only represents a new link in the authoritarian control chain, but also openly violates the Political Constitution of Nicaragua,” recalls lawyer Juan-Diego Barberena, exiled in Costa Rica. Article 167 of the Magna Carta establishes that “the decisions and resolutions of the courts and judges are unavoidable compliance for the state authorities, organizations and natural and legal persons affected.” However, from now on, the Police Headquarters is above justice to execute confiscations that, in fact, the officers were already carrying out without the need for orders emanating from the Judiciary.
“The chiefs prior to the execution of judicial orders or trades that imply the embargo, occupation of debts or eviction of properties, must be authorized by the undersigned and CG Victoriano Ruíz Urbina,” reads the first point of the document. Ruiz Urbina is the current head of the Directorate of Judicial Assistance (DAJ) and the head of the El Chipote prison, the main torture center of the Ortega-Murillo Family Administration.
The internal order was aimed at all police delegations and specialized headquarters of the country, in a clear message that no act that implies embargo, occupation or eviction of goods cannot obey the judges. The circular also conditions the execution of capture orders related to patrimonial crimes such as scams or stelionato (the act of selling an already ceded property), even if they are duly issued by judges.
“The police are placed as an organ to the judicial system, annuling the authority of the courts. What legal implications does this have? That the jurisdictional function dissolves,” Barberena explains to El País. “That is to say it cancels the ability of the courts to execute the judgment. That, in essence, is the main attribution of justice systems. Or in other words, it is a reflection of the absence of the subjection of power to the law, the absence of the rule of law in Nicaragua,” he says.
The official police argument is to make a “characterization” of the people involved and analyze the territorial situation. However, in practice, this procedure gives officers the power to decide whether or not a judicial mandate is fulfilled, which is unconstitutional.
“The political filter of justice”
While justice already responded to Ortega and Murillo, being nothing impartial, now with the new procedure, according to another lawyer consulted in anonymity, it becomes the police “into a political-administrative filter of justice.” “This practice can lead to a selective justice system, in which the execution of judicial orders will depend on political interests or alliances with power. Cases of landfill, illegal occupations and debt litigation could be resolved not in court, but in police offices under criteria of convenience,” says the lawyer.
The circular issued is part of a broader process of total institutional control by the Ortega and Murillo regime. Nine days after the issuance of the Internal Director of the Police, the National Assembly, in full control by the ruling party, urgently approved a new judicial career law that de facto delete the merit and opposition competitions as a route of income and promotion within the Nicaraguan Justice system. The Judicial Branch of the Faculty is deprived of discretionary judges, magistrates, secretaries and judicial advisors.
In other words, the political subordination of the entire judicial system that, since last February with the total constitutional reform ordered by the ruling couple, ceased to be an institution to become “a coordinated body” by the Executive.
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